The present invention is to a gun sling for rifles and shotguns that is comfortable and easy to use. The sling can be used to carry a gun in the ordinary manner, over one shoulder, or “backpack-style” over two shoulders. When carried over two shoulders, the sling of the present invention intuitively adjusts more easily for better user comfort.
Numerous prior art gun slings have been developed for comfortable use over one shoulder. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 266,180 to Dickinson et al. discloses a sling that is adjustable in length and has a padded portion for engaging a shoulder at a top end thereof. These designs usually suffer from cumbersome length adjustment when configuring the sling due to the different bulkiness of various outerwear items. Additionally, since all the weight of the gun is supported by one shoulder, users must either constantly move the gun from one shoulder to the other or suffer fatigue on one shoulder.
Numerous other prior art gun slings have been developed for comfortable use over two shoulders. U.S. Pat. No. 2,715,989 to Sjodin et al. discloses a shoulder harness for carrying a rifle over both shoulders. The unit suffers from placement of the adjustment buckles at the shoulder and a lack of padding, both of which can make the harness uncomfortable in use. Additionally, the stock-embracing strap can interfere with the gun operation and the harness is not meant to be used comfortably over a single shoulder when the gun is transported shorter distances.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,595,451 to Branby discloses a gun sling that can be used over one or both shoulders by use of a sliding member. However, because the sling must be able to pass through the sliding member, it cannot employ any padding at the shoulder position, leading to discomfort during extended use. The dual function of the sling is not readily apparent or intuitive to new users.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,835 to Tarr, Jr. discloses a gun sling that can be used over one or both shoulders by use of a long strap that is split longitudinally. The design of the length adjustment mechanism is non-intuitive and does not allow separate adjustment of each strap and again, this design does not employ any padding at the shoulder position, leading to discomfort during extended use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,558 to Martinez. discloses a gun sling that can be used over one or both shoulders by use of a primary strap and an auxiliary strap. The design of the length adjustment mechanism does not allow quick adjustment of the primary strap and the auxiliary strap is limited to a few pre-set positions. This design positions the gun to one side of the user and does not employ any padding at the shoulder position of the auxiliary strap, leading to discomfort during extended use. The dual function of the sling is not readily apparent or intuitive to new users.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,219 to Rosenfeld discloses a gun sling that uses a loop attached to a rifle at two spaced-apart points to allow carrying of the rifle in a backpack position. The design of the length adjustment mechanism does not allow separate adjustment of each strap and again, this design does not employ any padding at the shoulder position, leading to discomfort during extended use. Again, the dual function of the sling is not readily apparent or intuitive to new users.